The Iblis Chronicles: Darkest Dawn
by Queeny Pants
Summary: The days of the thug group Team Rocket are long over, years on now functioning as a flourishing research industry. The ways of the past aren't forgotten, nor is the slate entirely clean as the morals of humanity are once again pushed into horrific limits
1. Tutor

Woah, its been ages since I even thought of writing a new story! This is the first in a possible trilogy and a story I've had cooking for a while now. I really hope people enjoy it as much as I did coming up with the ideas and I hope I don't disappoint and actually manage to keep with writing, eheh...

Disclaimer: I do not own any content related to the original Pokémon series, species, anime or anything along those lines, this is written by the fans for the fans.

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Chapter one:  
Tutor

_"Come on, look this way just once... Give me something to at least pretend you're looking at me, like I actually exist to you."  
_No such luck it seemed, as the hot brunette chick that sat across the room from him every morning ignored his pleas and carried on typing, oblivious to his intentions, at her desk. Or maybe she wasn't oblivious, but more than likely knew as well as he did that a total nerd loser, not even fully fledged scientist rather a college graduate assistant, had absolutely no chance with someone like her.

Andrew sighed deeply from his small, unkempt desk (which for being his supposed 'work station' he actually spent very little time at while on the job) the sound not so much as even causing the spectacled secretary to blink, much less get her attentions. Heck, even if he was earning around ten times more salary than her on this project, she was still out of his league. Ruffling his unkempt red hair awkwardly and accepting both his defeat and yet another bruise to his pride, the young man grabbed his files and card passes from one of the drawers and made his way, unsuccessful, out of the room.

_"Tomorrow is another day. And the day after that... and the one after that." _He attempted to reassure himself, only to fail miserably. Not that the secretary actually meant that much to him, but he more saw it as a kind of challenge to get her attentions, perhaps even her interest.  
Not that it would ever happen. This was a shame, since he was a terrible sore loser, despite how much losing came naturally to him and he knew very well he'd be nursing a wounded pride for a long while afterwards. In a place like this though, it was only natural for a guy like him to make little games out of normal things for entertainment, or merely for a small pick-me-up despite his numerous failures. The seriousness of the entire place was intoxicating if you let it get a hold of you.

_"It's an underground government base. Not exactly on the top ten list for relaxation." _He reminded himself, purposefully not adding on the small fact that it was, of course, under rocket control.  
People weren't aware of it, but pretty much most divisions of the government were run by those sympathetic to the renegade organisations cause. Of course, they didn't do anything public these days. The world remembered rocket of simpler times as a mild threat at the time, but ultimately failure of a team. By working secretly, it was so much easier to get things done and things even became acceptable to the public eye as long as they were portrayed just so and their grisly truth hidden. The original group had gotten it entirely wrong with being so brash and open, given that the underground re-incarnation had flourished upon its revival and under new guidance.

Not that he was particularly into the group and its ideas or anything. At least, he had honestly never intended to end up deeply involved with the team, much less on one of its top projects. But when he had been approached after his graduation (he'd apparently excelled in his area and had been just the kind of person that 'they needed') and offered a salary and secure future that he could only hope for after nothing short of a miracle and some serious time spent in one of the region's top universities, which to be frank, he couldn't afford.  
Of course he accepted to enlist with them, no strings attached.

And to be perfectly honest, it wasn't as bad as they made out. The members didn't go around stealing children's teddy bears or kicking puppies, which was the general image that came into one's mind when thinking of the illegal group. They were actually quite friendly and, to Andrew's surprise, mostly as normal as he was. Of course there were a few generic wack-o's (such as a certain Dr. Strothe) but that was just natural in any work-place with such a large amount of employed staff. If you could handle the idea that you were technically working for an outlaw organisation (although as the better part of the government, were they really 'outlaws' so to speak?) it was a pretty sweet situation to be in. The pay was amazing, directly funded from the government and you were pretty much guaranteed a cushy future for your services.  
If you kept your mouth shut and were obedient, at least.

That and you had to be pretty open minded. Not just about the projects and work itself, but about living arrangements. This particular base, the main and largest, was situated some ridiculous mileage underground a remote island off the coast of Vermillion bay. Living quarters took up a large space for it, as all staff from the top dogs to cleaners were required to live on-site. The quarters themselves were pretty nice, devised into different 'sectors' each with its own snappy name in honour of a particular tree, something which you didn't see this far underground so therefore was rather pointless to Andrew. It was cramped, yes, with the rooms consisting of a single room for your bed, desk, belongings and whatnot and a small bathroom. Entertainment was to be found in the 'communal area' of the particular tree's legacy and food was to be consumed in one of the many restaurant like cafeterias.

All of this was around seven and eight stories underground, enough to give anyone cabin, or in this case 'underground base' fever. Not that Andrew liked the living quarters much. The people he was fine with, even if he mostly kept to himself around them, but he found the place as high tech, spacey and futuristic as it was, dull in comparison with what lay even lower underneath the earths surface.

The only way to access 'the cage', as it was so fondly nicknamed in these parts, was via an elevator system. Huge, ridiculously touchy machines that travelled the last few miles down to the very bottom of the base and with more security installed on their mainframe than a large bank. There were about four of these, which was somewhat impractical for the amount of usage they faced, but for some reason such a small number was viewed as 'safer'.  
"Bullshit." The young man mumbled as he reached a hand towards the caller button and withdrew an access pass from within a lab-coat pocket. He decided the higher ups just did this to laugh at everyone as they squeezed inside the tiny boxes, happy at being able to avoid this prospect given the elevator that opened to him was empty.  
Well, it was 6am.

He couldn't help but groan as the huge silver doors closed and then a robotic female voice announced, cheerily of course, that it was going to perform a bio-scan on his persons, just in case he was one of them and decided to go BACK to where he came from rather than proceeding further to freedom. Of course.  
The ride down, was as always, painfully slow. Not that the elevators themselves were slow, they were actually quite zippy things, rather the decent they made being incredibly steep. This was one safety precaution Andrew agreed with though.

ID cards clicking as they collided around his neck upon every step he made, the young assistant eagerly made his way out of the elevator and into the purely silver, metallic corridor. The floor clinked under his steps, leading him towards the eventual end of the corridor and a huge metallic door. The structure itself was at least as three times as tall as Andrew, undeniably a bunker door, though in this case 'seal' would of been more accurate.  
Apparently used to and entirely un-awed by the sight, he made his way towards a small terminal with a camera stationed towards it and mic.  
"Morning, Kristy. Mind giving me access a little earlier than normal? I left earlier expecting to get breakfast but then decided not to bother." After a few moments of static, a clearly female and surprisingly gentle voice replied.  
"Sure thing, most of the group are still sleeping anyway so you shouldn't disturb them. All accept your one, of course. That thing always seems to know when someone's coming to visit... Anyway, you know the drill, swipe your card and go through."

Seconds later, in a scene from a sci-fi movie, the huge doors burst to life in order to grant him passage. Again, he seemed unimpressed and made his way inside, pressing a button on the other side to close and seal the doors once more. He was instantly submerged in greenery.  
'The cage' wasn't exactly a cage so much as a huge dome. Or rather, home to the bases current pride and joy, not to mention latest scientific breakthrough. For a pen, it was actually quite pleasant, being filled with all kinds of greenery, and artificial enhancements that imitated the outside world. Not that the specimens knew what the place was actually like. 'The Cage' was shaped like a huge dome, with the staff area being shaped like a huge inner-tube around it so that they were able to observe inside.

They of course entered with them sometimes, just like he was about to. He actually considered the cage to be one of the nicest places on the base, what with its lush environments not to mention the artificial sky that hung over it. A lot of people actually came here off duty to simply feel more at home, as odd as that was.  
Andrew couldn't help but laugh slightly at his sudden realisation. The most human friendly habitat in this total place belonged to the creatures that weren't. With a sigh, he made his way into the dome and the domain of the creations.

After just a few paces, he came face to face with talons, flashes of wings and horns. Claws, teeth, tails and spikes surrounded him, yet he remained completely calm. The creatures which the appendages and features belonged to seemed to flock around him, slowly moving closer. Mostly humanoid in shape, but pained in fur and skin every colour of the rainbow, some with feathers, some with scales. Inhuman. One made its way towards him, long claws outstretched and striking magenta feathers streaming from the side of a face.  
"Good morning, Red." The creature politely greeted, to which Andrew smiled at the Sneasel hybrid, before sighing once more, but still with a grin.  
"Geez, how many times do I have to tell you early birds, its Andrew?" He groaned, to which the exotic creatures all seemed to chuckle at or smile. The assistant looked around him and at the group, noting that it was always the same group that was up this early. Mostly the normal types, given they were nearly always bouncy. Not that it mattered much.  
"Any of you know where my girl is?" He asked shortly afterwards, to which the sneasel male pointed his claws to the right and indicated to a small grassy area with a pond.  
"Should of guessed." Andrew mused, before giving the creatures a faint wave and automatically excusing himself. It only took him a few paces to reach the pond, his girl's particular favourite spot to simply sit and amuse herself. As always, she was humming, a husky melancholic tune this time around. She seemed dazed when he approached her, but as soon as she noticed his presence, perked up.  
Large, impaling blue spikes protruded from her back and shielded red eyes, along with a particularly nasty pair from her long tail. Sleek purple skin clashed with bright blue scales, arms reaching upwards to his face in greeting not with hands, but large, finger like feathers, useless for basic handling of objects.

"Good morning, zero. Enjoying the pond?"  
He didn't expect her to answer. Any question beyond her name or how she was completely out mastered her, nor did she know many words other than those that were simple and were used frequently to perform basic sentences.  
Not that she was dumb. Just she hadn't been designed to be all that knowledgeable in things that weren't seen as necessary for her purpose.  
Which as the crowning gem of the biological weapon project wasn't all that much. She was dangerous, a high tech 'machine' almost, designed to kill and obliterate easily. A living creature capable of unleashing the equivalent of a nuclear air strike upon the world.  
And he was its tutor, not to mention found her actually rather sweet.  
Naturally, with this in mind it wasn't much of a surprise that she hadn't been designed excel in the English language. Still, he could only try his best, removing the toddler book from his files with different shades of colours in it.  
"Red." He began, pointing at the square of colour represented by an apple. "This is red. Try and say Red?"  
Oh yeah. He was totally on his way to being a revolutionary scientist. One colour at a time.


	2. Playing god

Second chapter away! Here we introduce another one of our main characters along for the ride.

Disclaimer: I do not own any content related to the original Pokémon series, species, anime or anything along those lines, this is written by the fans for the fans.

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Chapter two:  
Playing god

An adjustment of a tie made the image perfect, nimble fingers clawing at it and forcing it to yield to tidiness as he did every morning. Pressed shirt, shined shoes, neatly combed back dirty blonde hair and ironed lab coat made the look complete, the notoriously picky Dr. Strothe finally pleased with the man looking back at himself from the mirror.  
A tidy image was the first step to a productive lifestyle and thus success, naturally. Grabbing his keys from a ridiculously clean office that barely looked touched, much less practically lived in daily, Steven Strothe shut and locked his door behind him and quickly pocketed the keys in order to make a swift but orderly walk down the corridor.

Upon entering the labs, his young assistant Marie was there waiting for him eagerly, though a smile only graced his slate grey eyes upon noticing the waiting cup of coffee on a countertop, the aroma steaming invitingly into the air.  
"Evening, Dr. Strothe!" Marie chirped a little _too_ perkily, her twin bunches bouncing slightly with her steps across the lab. Steven had to hide a large grimace that would of graced his features, if only for the sake of being polite upon the young woman's actions. He was growing immensely tired of her constantly syrupy attitude and doubted he could continue to be civil with her much longer. It was eleven at night for gods sake, who could be so damn happy at the start of a seven hour shift that would take them to six in the morning?  
Coughing heartily, his slightly aged features of forties creasing into a mild frown he mumbled a somewhat restrained greeting to the trainee.  
"Yes, Evening... Anything significant while I was on my arrival?" He asked, whisking over to a computer interface nearly instantly in order to check the records. No matter what answer the girl gave him, he was still going to check for himself regardless.

Marie seemed somewhat caught off guard by Dr. Strothe's sudden question, nearly clear dropping her clip-board right out of her arms in the process of whirling her head around to face him.  
"Oh! Um, not that I was aware of sir! Brain activities are normal and all subjects are in heavy REM sleep." She informed, holding back the urge to suddenly give the Doctor a salute if only because she caught herself at the last moment. He was truly an intimidating man however, especially with those piercing grey eyes. It was only natural to her that she act as if she were skittering round a sergeant or something on that level.

Steven simply 'hmphed' as he confirmed her analysis for himself and found it to be correct, moving away from the computer to sit on a small computer chair in order to continue monitoring the specimens. Not that there was much work to it, given they near always remained in REM sleep, occasionally slipping into NREM sleep only to slip into the former shortly after once again.  
Such work didn't become of him and he was growing ever more tired with his 'job' with every passing day. To say he was bitter was an understatement, given his circumstances. He was souly responsible for one of the biggest breakthroughs in biological warfare, medicinal advancements AND genetic research in history, and he was stuck guarding the' after effects' of his breakthrough like some glorified babysitter.  
It was safe to say Steven Strothe was a spited man, being left to clean up the mess that he'd been ordered to create, not to mention all those damn rumours going around of how he'd exactly clawed his way to semi-fame.

Marie glanced over at her tutor as she heard him snort rather loudly from his terminal, raising her eyebrows for a few seconds before going back to her research... which really didn't consist of much to be perfectly honest. Then again, she felt lucky to even be a small part of this project knowing just how big it was, given she was only a trainee who had jumped at the chance of studying under Dr. Strothe himself..! Not that the past year or so had been what she had expected upon first receiving the offer, but she still cherished it none the less. He was an idol..! Well. Her idol, maybe, but she'd never tell him that.

Despite his bitter attitude at times, she still found him simply amazing. She'd already admired him, but after discovering his latest breakthrough, she'd devoted herself to always supporting him and his work if he ever needed it. The man was a genius. A legend. She was lucky to be working with him, lucky to be in the same organisation with him.. Lucky to be in the same room, the same-  
"Marie! Snap out of it, dammed girl."  
A sharp voice grumbling towards her caused her current train of thought to rather spectacularly derail, her mouth hanging open in a rather gormless manor due to her abrupt halt of thinking. Her 'idol' eyed her questioningly before sighing exasperatedly.  
"There's some readings on Seven that are a little odd. Nothing we haven't seen before, but I want you to go do a visual check. Take the sedative, though I'll doubt you'll need it."

She was waved off without so much more as a titbit of information, though was oddly excited. The Doctor had never asked her to personally foresee to an anomaly before, not that they ever yielded anything exciting or different from the usual pattern. But it meant that he was handing her more responsibility, testing her skills...  
_"He's starting to notice me!"_ She beamed, hastily a vial of sedative liquid in a small container from a nearby storage freezer.  
It sloshed in her hands pocketed it in her lab coat, quickly swiping her cardkey in order to access the room adjacent to the lab she and the doctor were in, doors opening swiftly to a rather dark and metallic room.

It was, at first glance, empty bar the many long metal rows of locker like objects, though Marie knew better. It took her a few moments of wandering though the dimly lit and defiantly chilly room before locating No. Fifty Seven, brushing at the metal locker door in order to confirm the engraved number on the front. She tapped impatiently at a small interface located on the front, a miniature computer giving her all kinds of readings before pressing a large rectangular one.  
Instantly, the chill in the room began to increase as the metallic door began to slide upwards and into the uppermost of the container leaving her glancing through a ridiculously thick piece of glass at a very distorted figure suspended in liquid and hooked up to many lines and function supports either to keep the specimen alive or in a state of permanent sleep. Marie glanced at her idols wondrous creature, one of nearly a hundred living specimens.

A human frame with clearly distorted arms, a face with scales protruding through skin, enormous tail erupting from the spine and coiling around the obviously male specimen. It was amazing that the doctor had created these things out of mere stem cells, creating the way for the future. These sleeping creatures were, combined, basically the factories of cures for nearly any potential dieses in the world and had the ground footing to save the entire human race one day if the need came.  
Pokémon, one of the native species to the world had proven to be extremely resilient and surprisingly advanced in terms of biology with their unique DNA patterns enabling them to withstand far more than the average human while often sacrificing the intelligence of a dominant species. They had been around on the planet far longer than human beings had however as discoveries from carbon dating and remains uncovered had proven a few years ago, not to mention more importantly, lived through epidemics that had wiped out entire other species.  
If only there was a way to harness the pokemon's hardyness for the benefit of the human race...  
And now there was. A living specimen that carried enhanced cells of Pokémon DNA that, in the wide range of specimens they had, were compatible with near any human for immunisation.

Or at least, one day they would be. As for now, all these wonderful lifesavers were still under rocket property and therefore under lock and key, or in this case, indefinite neuro-hibernation until tests could be made, contracts signed and the I's dotted as it were. Still, it was truly amazing what Dr. Strothe had managed to create, Marie sighing dreamily just thinking about it... at least, until she remembered what she was supposed to be doing.  
She checked the neurological outputs for the individual specimen once more, trying to detect anything unusual, but nothing striking her as odd other than a slight difference in the usual cycles of REM's and accelerated heart rate.

She felt like an idiot upon figuring it out, a light bulb popping on in her cheery head as she bunched in the Doctors number on her portable phone. He answered instantly, as expected of him and mumbled gruffly down the phone just what exactly she wanted.  
"The fluctuations on No. Fifty Seven, Sir. Another nightmare." She informed an oddly happy tone to her voice. Steven merely grumbled momentarily to himself at this information, unsure what quite to make of it.  
"The seventh one this month..." He noted to himself, though brushed it aside as he once again came up with no answers for the odd occurrence.  
"Marie. Administer some relaxant into Fifty seven's internal pump then get back here, there's some paperwork with your name on."  
"Ah uh... Yes sir..." Marie mumbled, knowing full well that her name may of just changed to Steven Strothe in terms of paperwork.


End file.
